Sunshine Pumper: The Response to the Debbie Downer

[Norm Peterson]

To nearly quote the nearly famous Navin Johnson: I'm actually a little excited about the roster for this year's team.  That is my problem.  Every year I think we got something going.  So these are the reasons why we have a chance at a good season.  Hope these happen, but I need to temper my excitement.

 

Damn near everyone you would have wanted to keep off of last year's roster decided to stay. The only guys we lost to the portal were guys who would not likely have made the rotation this year. In addition ...

 

Rienk Mast. We had to hit a homer in the transfer market to replace Derrick Walker because we didn't really have anyone in-house who could fill those shoes. We got the best player from the best team in the Missouri Valley. Word is we got the kid Iowa really wanted. He's strong. He's long. And he's efficient. Even from beyond the arc.

 

Keisei decided to stay. He could have a Cary Cochran kind of season. He's that good of a shooter. And he's just so damn crafty. Plays with joy and a joy to watch play.

 

Brice Williams. Frickin A. Call him pennies from heaven because, on paper, he was maybe one of the best shooters in the portal. Really wasn't expecting a wing. Not a great position of need. But nice to add an efficient scorer regardless. He could have AWIII kind of impact.  With him and Keisei, opposing Ds could have to pick their poison.

 

Matar Diop. Very late add. Usually not a good sign. But, in this case, he might have just snuck under the radar. He's REALLY long with a 7'3 wingspan. He's really bouncy. He's probably really raw, but he has some tools. But the thing I LOVE about him is his mindset. I love big men who have a little bit of that dawg in them. Before he was a known recruit and only had offers from places like Sam Houston State, I became high on Bruno Fernando for just that reason. He just had that dawg in him. Matar is like that. High motor competitor. And the biggest thing is it looked like we were going to be really iffy around the rim and lacking in depth down low. Blaise still having ankle problems and who knows if he'll contribute. I think Matar just took that spot.

 

Jamarques Lawrence. Freshman stud who took advantage of our injury situation to get some serious, real minutes. And he rose to the occasion. Could he have a sophomore slump? Sure. But that doesn't seem likely from a guy who rose to the challenge of stepping into the starting rotation as a true freshman when we got hit with injuries.

 

Josiah Allick. Another Lincoln kid who wants to do the home crowd proud. And he's merely a 32 min/game starter from a top roughly 60 team out of New Mex. Stop and think about that for a sec. He STARTED and played 32 min/game for a roughly top 60 team last year. We POACHED a starter from a team that was sniffing the bubble a year ago and it's possible he won't even start on this year's Husker squad. Mind blown. If you don't think THAT is a positive sign, I don't know what to tell you.

 

Jarron Coleman. Let me set the scene: Our starting PG graduates. We recruit the starting PG from one of last year's conference rivals. He has some ... trouble. Trouble that could affect his eligibility. And, right about that time, a 6'5 PG with roughly 4 years of starting experience, including 1 at a P5 school, materializes in the portal. And he picks us.

 

Color me crazy, but it seems like the stars are maybe kind of starting to align. I mean, I don't want to get too carried away, but I feel like we really did OK in the portal, y'know? We got what we had to get at every position. We kept the guys we needed to keep and landed at the very least serviceable players at every position we needed to find someone. We bolstered our bench. You'd have to think we're in pretty good shape going into the season.

 

Now talk me down off the ledge.

[Huskerpapa]

Arguably, we lost our three team leaders; leadership is fickle and is hard to simply slot players into that role.  

Scoring and rebounding seems present; but who will respond to the leadership gap?

I am encouraged that we have players willing to do the little things that are necessary to win close games. 

I guess we will get a glimpse of the team on Friday that hopefully will answer a few of the questions.

[millerhusker]

1 hour ago, Huskerpapa said:

Arguably, we lost our three team leaders; leadership is fickle and is hard to simply slot players into that role.  

Scoring and rebounding seems present; but who will respond to the leadership gap?

I am encouraged that we have players willing to do the little things that are necessary to win close games. 

I guess we will get a glimpse of the team on Friday that hopefully will answer a few of the questions.

Juwan was also a team leader last year. Brice Williams, Rienk Mast, Josiah Allick and Sam Hoiberg all have leadership qualities coming out of their ears. I'm not worried about the maturity and mental toughness of this team. It will be on par with last year. 

[Navin R. Johnson]

"Nearly famous?"  Good stuff but no matter what you say I'm not entering the same trap I have all to often entered in the past.  I will wait to decide how I feel until the first game, or the Creighton game or the middle of the conference season or the post season... Oops, I've said too much. 

[TourneyBound]

1 hour ago, Norm Peterson said:

To nearly quote the nearly famous Navin Johnson: I'm actually a little excited about the roster for this year's team.  That is my problem.  Every year I think we got something going.  So these are the reasons why we have a chance at a good season.  Hope these happen, but I need to temper my excitement.

 

Damn near everyone you would have wanted to keep off of last year's roster decided to stay. The only guys we lost to the portal were guys who would not likely have made the rotation this year. In addition ...

 

Rienk Mast. We had to hit a homer in the transfer market to replace Derrick Walker because we didn't really have anyone in-house who could fill those shoes. We got the best player from the best team in the Missouri Valley. Word is we got the kid Iowa really wanted. He's strong. He's long. And he's efficient. Even from beyond the arc.

 

Keisei decided to stay. He could have a Cary Cochran kind of season. He's that good of a shooter. And he's just so damn crafty. Plays with joy and a joy to watch play.

 

Brice Williams. Frickin A. Call him pennies from heaven because, on paper, he was maybe one of the best shooters in the portal. Really wasn't expecting a wing. Not a great position of need. But nice to add an efficient scorer regardless. He could have AWIII kind of impact.  With him and Keisei, opposing Ds could have to pick their poison.

 

Matar Diop. Very late add. Usually not a good sign. But, in this case, he might have just snuck under the radar. He's REALLY long with a 7'3 wingspan. He's really bouncy. He's probably really raw, but he has some tools. But the thing I LOVE about him is his mindset. I love big men who have a little bit of that dawg in them. Before he was a known recruit and only had offers from places like Sam Houston State, I became high on Bruno Fernando for just that reason. He just had that dawg in him. Matar is like that. High motor competitor. And the biggest thing is it looked like we were going to be really iffy around the rim and lacking in depth down low. Blaise still having ankle problems and who knows if he'll contribute. I think Matar just took that spot.

 

Jamarques Lawrence. Freshman stud who took advantage of our injury situation to get some serious, real minutes. And he rose to the occasion. Could he have a sophomore slump? Sure. But that doesn't seem likely from a guy who rose to the challenge of stepping into the starting rotation as a true freshman when we got hit with injuries.

 

Josiah Allick. Another Lincoln kid who wants to do the home crowd proud. And he's merely a 32 min/game starter from a top roughly 60 team out of New Mex. Stop and think about that for a sec. He STARTED and played 32 min/game for a roughly top 60 team last year. We POACHED a starter from a team that was sniffing the bubble a year ago and it's possible he won't even start on this year's Husker squad. Mind blown. If you don't think THAT is a positive sign, I don't know what to tell you.

 

Jarron Coleman. Let me set the scene: Our starting PG graduates. We recruit the starting PG from one of last year's conference rivals. He has some ... trouble. Trouble that could affect his eligibility. And, right about that time, a 6'5 PG with roughly 4 years of starting experience, including 1 at a P5 school, materializes in the portal. And he picks us.

 

Color me crazy, but it seems like the stars are maybe kind of starting to align. I mean, I don't want to get too carried away, but I feel like we really did OK in the portal, y'know? We got what we had to get at every position. We kept the guys we needed to keep and landed at the very least serviceable players at every position we needed to find someone. We bolstered our bench. You'd have to think we're in pretty good shape going into the season.

 

Now talk me down off the ledge.

Can’t forget about a healthy Juwan Gary coming back also..  I know he isn’t new or anything but we played a lot of season without him last year..  I’m with ya Norm though. I just don’t want to get excited and have a letdown again..  trying to temper my optimism 

[hhcmatt]

2 minutes ago, Navin R. Johnson said:

"Nearly famous?"  

 

Typical run-of-the-mill bastard

[AuroranHusker]

It's okay to be excited for Nebrasketball. There's no shame in being prepared for that Big Dance appearance. 

 

 

[cornfed24-7]

2 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

talk me down off the ledge

Nope. Jump.

[Navin R. Johnson]

54 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

Typical run-of-the-mill bastard

 

Die gas pumper

[Chuck Taylor]

Sunshine pumper: ranked 46th, 9th in BIG:

https://www.barttorvik.com/?conlimit=B10&state=All&year=2024&sort=

 

Debbie Downer: ranked 137th, 13th in BIG:

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/21851

 

[millerhusker]

My dad could sense my optimism for this team and wanted to know what our roster looked like this year. I typed up a little Athlon style roster summary for him. 

 

CG – Jarron Coleman  6-5  Sr.                   14 ppg  5 rpg  4 apg  (at Ball State). Low efficiency. Good ball handler, passer. Big guard. 2^nd team all-conference last year.

CG – Jamarques Lawrence  6-3  Soph.   5 ppg(38%  3FG) 9 ppg over last 1/3 of season as true freshman. Great perimeter defender. Could end up being best two-way player on team

2G – Keisei Tominaga  6-2  Sr.                  13 ppg   (50/40/87).  20 ppg over last 1/3 of season. One of best shooters in the country. HM all-big ten last year.

W – Brice Williams  6-7  Jr.                       14 ppg  5 rpg (at Charlotte)  (48/40/85).  Career 40% 3FG. Was willing to come off bench at Charlotte, still 2^nd team all-conference.

WF – Juwan Gary  6-6   Jr.                        10 ppg  7 rpg  1.5 spg   Elite athleticism and high motor, can defend all 5 positions. Limited skill offensively.

F/Post – Josiah Allick  6-8   Sr.                  9 ppg  7 rpg  2 apg  (at New Mexico).   56% FG.  Leader, brings good energy, will accept his role.  2^nd in Mountain West in rebounding last year.

Post – Rienk Mast  6-10   Jr.                    14 ppg  8 rpg  3 apg (at Bradley). (52/36/74).  Skilled big man, passing will remind of Derrick Walker. Better shooter. 1^st team all-conference last year.

 

CG – Ramel Lloyd  6-6   RFr.                      Redshirted last year. Versatile guard w/ potential. Struggles shooting. Needs to get stronger, more physical. Highly recruited.

CG – Cale Jacobson  6-4   RFr.                  Walk-on who could’ve taken a scholarship at lower level schools, could get minutes as ball handler off bench.

2G – Sam Hoiberg  6-0   Soph.               4 ppg  2 rpg.  (55/41/82). Coach’s kid, clutch shooter last year

W – CJ Wilcher  6-5   Jr.                           8 ppg  3 rpg  2 apg.  41% 3FG two years ago. Will have to compete to keep spot in rotation.

WF – Eli Rice  6-8   Fr.                              Shooter, athlete. Led team in scoring in Spain trip this summer

F/Post – Matar Diop  6-10   Fr.               High level athlete. Very raw offensively. May redshirt.

Post – Blaise Keita  6-11   Jr.                   2 ppg  4 rpg.  52% FG.  Great post defender. Injury issues

 

16-16 record last year.  9-11 in conference (was maybe the toughest conference schedule in several years). Went 6-2 in last 8 regular season games – 7 of those games were against postseason teams. 5 wins against NCAA tourney teams, 2 against NIT teams. Won at Creighton. Beat two ACC teams.

Last 1/3 of season, played like a borderline top 25 team. Tominaga was playing at an all-conference level. True freshman Jamarques Lawrence often looked like the best defender on the court, also very skilled offensively.

This will be by far the deepest, most balanced and mature roster Hoiberg has had. All comes down to how they mesh.   

Prediction: 10-1 non-conference. 10-10 in conference. NCAA tournament and will win some games when they get there.

[jimmykc]

Reminds me of the feeling I had starting the season in 1990 before we won 26 games and were rated 11th in the nation prior to the fateful game with Xavier. Danny's team had lost 18 games in 1989-90, but you could feel all of the pieces were in place to begin the 1990-91 season. 

[jayschool]

7 minutes ago, jimmykc said:

Reminds me of the feeling I had starting the season in 1990 before we won 26 games and were rated 11th in the nation prior to the fateful game with Xavier. Danny's team had lost 18 games in 1989-90, but you could feel all of the pieces were in place to begin the 1990-91 season. 

That team won six straight true road games, some against pretty good teams — Eastern Illinois, Wisconsin, The Citadel, Green Bay, Kansas State and UMKC.

[Norm Peterson]

1 hour ago, Chuck Taylor said:

Sunshine pumper: ranked 46th, 9th in BIG:

https://www.barttorvik.com/?conlimit=B10&state=All&year=2024&sort=

 

Debbie Downer: ranked 137th, 13th in BIG:

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/21851

 

 

If you look at Torvik, there are 2 teams on top that are above everyone else and 2 teams at the bottom that are beneath everyone else and 10 teams in the middle that are close enough, they could about finish in any order. We're within striking distance of the pre-season 3rd ranked team in the conference. I mean, just sayin.

[throwback]

38 minutes ago, jayschool said:

That team won six straight true road games, some against pretty good teams — Eastern Illinois, Wisconsin, The Citadel, Green Bay, Kansas State and UMKC.

So we won at Wisky in Davison's freshman year? Nice.

[throwback]

I, too, am a reformed Debbie Downer for this team. I think we could be pretty solid, and I haven't felt that way in a long, long time.

 

I like the way the schedule sets up as well. Replacing Walker is going to be extremely difficult, but it wouldn't shock me to see NU have a regular season close to what Penn St had a year ago. And if we could come close to duplicating what they did in the postseason, too, sign me up.

 

[aphilso1]

This season's success or failure is largely going to come down to the PG spot.  If Coleman gets sticky hands then I think we're in trouble.  One, we've seen what happens with Hoiberg's offense when  the PG does too much himself.  And two, this year we have far more efficient options who should be taking the majority of the shots.

[49r]

10 hours ago, Navin R. Johnson said:

 

Die gas pumper

 

You have no idea how much I wanted to post this immediately after @Norm Peterson posted this thread, but I refrained because I didn't want to immediately derail the thread.

 

I'm glad you did it though.

 

 

[49r]

"You aren't carnival personnel". 

[Norm Peterson]

14 hours ago, Huskerpapa said:

Arguably, we lost our three team leaders; leadership is fickle and is hard to simply slot players into that role.  

Scoring and rebounding seems present; but who will respond to the leadership gap?

I am encouraged that we have players willing to do the little things that are necessary to win close games. 

I guess we will get a glimpse of the team on Friday that hopefully will answer a few of the questions.

 

Two of those three leaders from last year were only on the team 1 season each. And one of those three leaders was lost to injury halfway through.

 

It'd be hard for me to believe their leadership can't be replaced by someone just as new this year.

[Navin R. Johnson]

5 hours ago, 49r said:

"You aren't carnival personnel". 

 

I thought I had every line in the movie memorized then I watched it again a few days ago and saw this.  I LOL and my wife just shakes her head.

 

https://clip.cafe/the-jerk-1979/man-st-louis/

[TourneyBound]

I'd add Fred Hoiberg to the list of sunshine pumper's after his press conference today!  You can tell he really likes this team!

[hhcmatt]

Feel like i'm going to hit peak sunshine after Friday's event

[Huskerpapa]

7 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

Two of those three leaders from last year were only on the team 1 season each. And one of those three leaders was lost to injury halfway through.

 

It'd be hard for me to believe their leadership can't be replaced by someone just as new this year.

Perhaps you are right.  I hope you are.

They did look good yesterday.

[cipsucks]

9 hours ago, jimmykc said:

Reminds me of the feeling I had starting the season in 1990 before we won 26 games and were rated 11th in the nation prior to the fateful game with Xavier. Danny's team had lost 18 games in 1989-90, but you could feel all of the pieces were in place to begin the 1990-91 season. 

Funny you mention that. I went down to Norman with 3 friends to watch the Mickey Joseph tackled into the cement wall debacle. Coming home, we learned the Huskers went 2-1 in their tournament.  Puerto Rico, I think? Too lazy to look it up. I told everyone that was gonna be a special season.  They all laughed.